Sometime today, Vaibhav Arya wrote:
If I can duplicate a Linux CD (or install it on as many machines as I like) without restrictions, how do/can/dare the Linux OS vendors charge for their software.
How _do_ they charge? - Because they have the right to.
How _can_ the charge? - Because they simply can.
How _dare_ they charge? - You mean what?
- Red hat sells a version (I think 6.22 high availability) for
$2000 that is steep. If I can duplicate Linux can I duplicate this one too? If so Can I (hypothetically of course) start a store that sells copies of this Red hat $2000 software for $1000?
For an example, I'll say that Microsoft can buy one copy of RH and sell duplicates all over the world for $0. Or maybe they'll even pay people to take it. Howzzzat?! :)
Do you think M$ will ever do that? ;)
- Also Caldera (I think its them) just released a 'Single
Machine License' that says you need to have one caldera license per machine. How can they do that?
Software is licenced to the user who uses it. When you obtain RH, the license allows you to make copies of the s/w, but the licence applies to all copies. In the above case, I am not sure whether you have to go out of your way to _obtain_ a licence if you install on a new machine. But in the case of RedHat, the licence is attached to every copy of the software, so you don't need to _obtain_ it separately. In fact, if you are making copies yourself, it is your responsibilty to distribute those copies under the same licence as the original (i. e. GPL).
PS: If you say that some components are not GPl hence the price for the box, can I remove the non-GPL (or more importantly non-'Free') components, and then duplicate and sell a slightly crippled box, in my Hypothetical store?
Yes you can. You are allowed to sell GPL s/w that way. You can.
Manish